Brady Brassart, centre, celebrates his first of two second period goals against the Lethbridge Hurricanes at the Saddledome on Sunday with captain Jayden Rissling and winger Zane Jones. Jake Virtanen had already potted three by the time Brassart went on his scoring spree in a 6-3 Calgary win.

It was a most-unusual — and impressive — hat-trick by forward Jake Virtanen that propelled the Calgary Hitmen to the top of the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference standings Sunday, with the hosts winning their fifth game in a row 6-3 over the woeful Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Virtanen, the first-overall bantam pick by the Hitmen in the 2011 draft, scored on the first shot of the game 49 seconds in, added his second less than five minutes later and capped the hatty at the 8:16 mark.

It was the first WHL hat-trick for Virtanen, 17, who now has seven goals and four assists for 11 points in 12 games this season. In 2012-13, his first full WHL campaign, the Abbotsford, B.C., native scored 16 goals and 34 points in 62 games for the Hitmen.

Virtainen is eligible for the 2014 NHL entry draft in June. He was one of 14 WHLers who made the NHL Central Scouting Bureau’s 2013-14 Futures North American list in July.

Marc McCoy, Dyson Stevenson and Connor Gay scored for the Pats (7-5) while Boston Leier had two assists.

The Pats sit just one point back of the East Division-leading Prince Albert Raiders (7-5-1) following Sunday’s action, which saw the Warriors (5-6-3) beat the Raiders 4-3 while the Pats had the night off

EVERETT, Wash. — Joshua Winquist had a goal and two assists in the opening period, as the Everett Silvertips grabbed a 3-0 lead en route to their win over Swift Current.

Ivan Nikolishin and Manraj Hayer also scored for Everett (8-2-2) in the first period, and Tyler Sandhu made it 4-1 late in the second.
Julius Honka scored for Swift Current (6-7-1) in the second period.

Austin Lotz made 25 saves for the Silvertips. Swift Current goalie Eetu Laurikainen stopped 10 of 13 shots in 22 minutes of ice time, and his teammate Landon Bow turned back 16 of 17 shots.

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the “X” in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.